There Is Nothing Wrong With Customer Service

Posts: 492

Unless you have living under a rock these last few months, you must surely be aware of the sudden increase in Vonage subscribers. Where just recently there were 200,000 subscribers there are now over 400,000, or 40% of the Voip market and growing fast. Consider the Customer Care Center. Where just a few months ago it took 5 minutes to answer a call, it now takes 10, and where it took 10 minutes, now 20. This present state of things is only temporary, but we Americans are used to getting what they want NOW! So we whine and complain.

Now you can be sure that this situation was foreseen and occupies a large section of Jeffrey Citron's business plan, "What to do in case of growth". It comes down to money, as always. New Customer Reps can not be hired until the money from the new subscribers comes in. The new Reps have to be trained, a workplace provided (cubicle?) with manuals, computers, salaries, and of course - telephones. This does not happen overnight so we must demonstrate patience until it does. Furthermore, the existing Reps deserve our praise and respect for doing twice the workload that is normally required of them.

There are some things that we can do to ease the pressure on Customer Service. There are some difficulties that only they can resolve, such as billing, shipping errors, retailer problems, and the like. From reading through the topics, it seems to me that the majority of problems encountered are router related. Many people try to install their routers in exceptional formations. Thus, exceptional formations often produce exceptional enigma with unproved results. The Technical Support Team is trained to resolve common problems. What personal knowledge that the Technician brings with him to the workplace may be exceptional as well, and as a result some unusual problems get solved. It is impractical to study every configuration of the LAN in a multitudinous array of personal hardware and software. Instead, the focus is mainly on the OEM products that Vonage distributes to its users and in the installation configurations that the device was designed for and are displayed in the installation support page at www.Vonage.com.

Linksys is the most common device shipped to users at this time. Cisco Systems is the OEM to Linksys. Cisco Systems and Linksys have been around for many years and have an excellent reputation in the field. So why do so many Vonage users have such unusual problems? I would suggest that those suffering from such exasperating difficulties with their router that they turn instead to the manufacturer. The Linksys advice line can be found at 1-800-546-5797; Technical Support can be found at 1-800-326-7114 or support@linksys.com. Linksys may have the answer that you are looking for, they know more about their products than anyone else.

Have you noticed that those who have installed their Adapter's according to the directions never report a problem? They consistently report that the ISP works fine, the Adapter works fine, the phone works fine, and there is never a complaint? There is a hint there somewhere. So please exonerate Customer Service. They are in a situation beyond their control. It's not their fault that service is slow. Stop the complaining, please, it's droll and immature.

Special praise should go to Dan Connor. He works on this form day and night. Somehow he finds the time to monitor it as well. Just try to find 1 hour of the day where he is not logged in and working. Amazing.

Mike

Posts: 2257

mbhn5204 wrote:

Special praise should go to Dan Connor. He works on this form day and night. Somehow he finds the time to monitor it as well. Just try to find 1 hour of the day where he is not logged in and working. Amazing.

Mike

Thanks Mike, and what an excellent post from you.

Posts: 12 · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 10:26 pm Post subject:

I think the growth is being addressed. Smile

I'm one of probably (an educated guess by the number of training classes and the number of people in each) 400-500 new hires over the last 6 weeks or so. They're tearing down walls, building new rooms and doing everything they can to increase the staff. From what I understand, the turnover rate is over 20% but even factoring all that in you can easily see they are suffering growing pains but trying to address it as fast as possible. Having sat at a desk for hours (only listening) to calls I can see it is could be a thankless job. Have a little courtesy and consideration when you speak to these nice folks as you could never possibly understand what's it's like to answer phones TEN hours a day virtually non-stop. Some of the people on the other end are so rude that these CC reps must go home and beat up their pets. (Just kidding of course about the pets).

Posts: 66 · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 10:37 pm Post subject:

Would be nice if they had home-office positions where you could handle calls at your home for part-time work for a 4 hr shift or so. They (Vonage) could activate your line#2 port on your adapter to receive the calls. Just a thought. Smile

Posts: 12 · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 11:00 pm Post subject:

Every Jet Blue reservation & CS rep works from their home. From what I am seeing in my short time with them, that would NOT be easy.

Posts: 67 · Full Forum Member Joined: Feb 08, 2005 Posts: 67

I do understand that the reps on the phone are likey overworked, and have to put up with a lot of rude people. When I get frustrated, i constantly remind myself, it's not this guy's/gal's fault. i don't think i could stand to listen 8 hours a days to people reaming into me, especially when it's not vonage's fault, and when it is, it's not that particular rep's fault.

i do think that Vonage management could have done a little better job of anticipating the growth, especially when they advertise as heavily as they have lately.

Posts: 8 · Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:25 pm Post subject:

I can't tell if the initial post was legitimate or just a copy of some company-driven literature. As Americans, we have the awesome free-market system. As soon as some other company comes up with a system comparable to Vonage, including pricing, Vonage will have competition. Oh, wait, AT&T CallVantage is here. So, now, my only decision is whether or not I give Vonage the remaining six days in this month to get one little simple task done....TRANSFER MY NUMBER. Otherwise, adios Vonage. As for doing trouble-shooting on my own, I do that at my own job, not at home for free for a startup company that is promising the Moon and delivering dirt clods. I am a very patient person, but, I am not a fool. Vonage, you are on the clock, T-minus six days and counting. I am pulling for you, but, just in case, I am already getting ready for the AT&T Voip.

Posts: 30 · Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 7:43 pm Post subject: Geeezz...

You hate to read posts like that right after you sign up for the service. I haven't even received the hardware yet!!!

Now I'm wondering.... does my 2 week trial start when they take my money or when I receive the hardware and plug it in??

I hope it works - I'm looking forward to dumping my current carrier. They have one of those consumer unfriendly fees - I get $5 of long distance per month and if I don't use it they charge me anyway.

I want to get what I pay for - nothing more, nothing less.

Posts: 20

mbhn5204 wrote:

Have you noticed that those who have installed their Adapter's according to the directions never report a problem? They consistently report that the ISP works fine, the Adapter works fine, the phone works fine, and there is never a complaint? There is a hint there somewhere. So please exonerate Customer Service. They are in a situation beyond their control. It's not their fault that service is slow. Stop the complaining, please, it's droll and immature.

Personally, I think you hit the nail on the head right there. Nice post.

Posts: 91 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Mar 08, 2005 Posts: 91

I beg to differ.

Quote:

Where just a few months ago it took 5 minutes to answer a call, it now takes 10, and where it took 10 minutes, now 20. This present state of things is only temporary, but we Americans are used to getting what they want NOW! So we whine and complain

.

I have been a Vonage customer for over one year. Never have I waited for less than 10 minutes.

Yet for all their hard work, they have some excellent tier 2 techs. One is named Jacki.